Material transferring mechanism



Oct. 25, 1932.

G. POWELL MATERIAL TRANSFERRING MECHANISM Filed March 12, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Zia/anion:

1i Poll/(2Z6 Oct. 25, 1932. e. POWELL MATERIAL TRANSFERRING MECHANISM Filed March 12, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 25, 1932. 3, POWELL 1,884,211

MATERIAL TRANSFERRING MECHANISM Filed March 12. 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 24 .9] 1 w n u Ezuafifor Gomrj P0 000% Patented Oct. 25, 1932 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GOMERT POWELL, OF MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO PULLMAN GAR. & MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE,

MATERIAL TRANSFERRING MECHANISM Application filed March 12, 1931. Serial No. 522,041.

This invention relates to material transferring mechanism, and more particularly to mechanism for moving material to or from a feed table for material operating machines.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of new and improved means for removing bars, plates and the like laterally from a table after the same has been operated upon by material working tools.

Another object of the invention is the provision of new and improved means for operating the unloading mechanism. v,

A further object of the invention is the provision of new and improved gravity operated material moving members, together with novel means for supporting and elevating said members.

A still furtherobject of the invention is the provision of a new and improved material transferring mechanism that is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, that may be easily installed, is eflicient in operation, and that is not likely to become broken or get out of order.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a punch press and table therefor, showing the invention in position thereon, with the parts shown more or less diagrammatically; v

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the table with the invention in position thereon, parts in section and parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 2, showing the invention in lowered position, with parts broken away;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the invention in elevated and unloading position;

Fig. 5 is a section on'line 55 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 3; and

Fig.7 is a section on line 77 of Fig. 3.

The invention is adapted to be used in connection with various types of material working machines having a table and transfer-ring rollers associated therewith. F or the purpose of disclosure'the invention will be shown and described as being used in connection with a punch press but it is under- I I manner above the floor level. It may be of any desired length, depending on the nature of the material to be operated upon.

Located at each side of the table are the material supports 13 and 14 respectively, each, comprising the horizontal members 15 and the upright members 16, see Fig. 4. These material supports arespaced from the table to form the passageways 17 for the workmen. The material is adapted to be moved along. the table 11 by a carriage 18 on which are mounted the clamping jaws 19 for engaging the outer end'of the material in a manner well known in the art. The table is provided with a rack 20 at each side thereof whereby the carriage may be moved along the same by the motor 21 in a'manner well known in the art. Since the details of the punch, the table and the carriage constitute no part of the present invention it is not thought necessary to further illustrate or describe the same.

The means provided for'removing the material from the table and depositing the same on the supports 13 and 14 at the sides thereof will now be described. As shown, this mechanism comprises a plurality of sets of material transferring devices or units 22 and 23, see Fig. l. The units 22 are preferably though not necessarily arranged opposite the units 23 and are adapted to transfer the material from one side of the table to the adjacent supports 13, and the units 23 are adapted to transfer the material from the other side of struction shown are in the form of angle or U-bars. These bars are connected together by a plurality of bolts or rods 26 and 27 having suitable spacing sleeves thereon. The base member 24 is provided with the outer and inner depending legs or supporting members 28 and 29 respectively and the base member 25 is provided with corresponding outer and inner depending legs or supporting members 31 and 32 respectively. These depending legs are attached to their corresponding base members in any suitable manner. As shown, U-shaped brackets 33 are employed for this purpose. Since these brackets are similar, only one need be described.

The ends of each bracket are turned outwardly as at 34 and are rigidly secured to the web of the corresponding base member and its central or loop portion extends outwardly and is rigidly connected to the corresponding leg as shown at 35 in Fig. 2. The legs 28 and 29 are rigidly connected together by any suitable means as the braces 36 and 37 which may extend across each other and be rigidly connected together as at 38, see Fig. 2. The depending legs 31 and 32 are braced and connected together in a similar manner by the brace members 39 and 41, see Figs. 2, 3.

The units are adapted to be elevated ant. tilted for discharging the iaterial therefrom, as will presently appear. Suitable means are provided for guiding and positioning. the units during their elevating and tilting operations. In the form of construction selected to illustrate one embodiment of the invention, a pair of standards or guides 42 and 43 adjacent to the leg 28, and a corresponding pair of standards or guides 44 and 45 adjacent to the leg 31, see Fig. 7, are employed for this purpose.

The lower ends of the legs 28 and 31 are connected together by the shaft 46 on which is mounted the guide or flanged rollers 47 and 48, see Fig. 7. These rollers are positioned on the shaft 46 by the sleeves 49, 51 and 52. The flanged roller 48 engages the standards or guides 44 and 45 and the roller 47 is arranged to engage the guide or standards-42 and 43 for guiding the forward portion of the unit in its vertical movement.

The rear legs 29 and 32 are likewise con nected together by a shaft 53 on which are mounted the flanged rollers 50 and which in turn engage the guides or standards 55. 56 and 57, 58 respectively. Supplemental flanged rollers 59, 61, 62 and 63 are provided for engaging the depending legs 28, 29, 31 and 32, respectively, see Fig. 7. for assisting in guiding said legs in their elevating and lowering movements and to prevent uneven movement of the front and rear portion of the unit while it is being elevated.

Any convenient means may be employed for elevating the units As shown, mechanism operated by compressed air is employed for this purpose. This elevating means is the same for each unit, therefore only one need be described. A cylind r 64, see and 4, is pivoted at its upper end to pan" of supports 65 and 66, see Fig. 7, which in turn are secured to the foundation or floor 67 of the shopor factory building by suitable anchor bolts 68, and to the corresponding guides or standards by suitable bolts 69 and 71.

The lower end of the cylinder extends down into a well or recess 72 in the foundation or floor 67, see Figs. 5 and 6. This recess is of suthcient length to permit the oscillating oi the cylinder during the elevating and lowerof the unit. The cylinder is provided with a piston 73 having the piston rod 74 which is ournaled on the connecting bar 26, see Fig. 6, for elevating the unit. he ele' vating mechanism is preferably, though not necessarily, operated by compressed air. The compressed air is supplied to the cylinders by a main conduit 75, see Fig. 1, which extends to the controls 76, and by branch conduits 77 extending to the cylinders. Each branch 0 nduit 77 is provided with a valve 78 whereby the conduit may be closed when it is not desired to use the corresponding unit.

Suitable means are provided for causing the unit to tip when it reaches its upward limit of movement. As shown, the front standards at each side of the unit are con nected together by the cross members 79 which are adapted to be engaged by the guide rollers 47 and 48, see Fig. 3, for arresting the upward movement of the forward standards 28 and 31. As the piston 73 continues to move upwardly the rear portion of the unit will continue to be elevated, thereby tipping the unit as clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

In order to prevent the front portion of thunit from lowering when the rear guide rollers 50 and 60 leave their guiding standards, appropriate latching mechanism is provided for automatically engaging beneath the bar 46 when the unit has been tipped to a pre determined position.

As disclosed, latch members 81 and 82 are pivotally connected to the front guides or supports 42 and 44 by means of a shaft 83 which extends through said guides and to which these latch members are connected. Since these latch members and the means for operating them are the same on each side of the unit, only one need be described.

Referring now to Fig. 3 the upper end of the la ch member 82 is provided with a rearward extension 84 forming a shoulder which is adapted to be engaged beneath the outer end of the shaft 46 when the unit is elevated. The latch member 82 is provided at its upper end with an extension 85 to which a tension spring 86 is connected for urging the latch member 82 rearwardly.

Suitable means are provided for automatically controlling the operation of the latch ings. The shaft 91 connects the lower ends of the bellcrank levers at the sides of the unit.

A plurality of links 93 connected at their rear ends to the shaft 91 are provided for connecting the bell crank levers to the shaft 94: which in turn is connected to the upper ends of the latch members 82. The parts are so constructed that the bell crank lever through the engagement of the roller 92 with the leg 28 and the connecting link 93 will hold the latch member 82 out of the path of the shaft 46 during the elevating movement of the unit.

When the shaft 46 has come in contact with the cross member 79 the forward end of the unit will be held from further upward movement, but the rear end of the unit will continue to be operated, thereby tilting the leg 28 out of engagement with the bell crank lever 88 and permitting the spring 86 to position the shoulder on the extension 84incneath the shaft .46 in elevated position.

During the return movement, the leg 28 coming in contact with the anti-frictionroller 92 will move the free end of the bell crank lever rearwardly which in turn will move the link 98 and latch 82 forwardly thereby releasing the latch from the shaft 46. and permitting the unit to be lowered. The. parts are so proportioned that this release movement will not take place until the unit is in substantially horizontal position.

Suitable means are provided for transfer ring the material from the units to the supports 13 and 14: when the unit is tilted. As shown, each unit is provided witha material transferring member 95 which I is slidably mounted on anti-friction rollers 90 mount-ed on the connecting rods 27, see .Fig. 5 of the drawings. These transferring members may be of any suitable form or construction, that shown being in the form of an I-beam. They are held in position on the units by plates 96 and 97 which are rigidly connected to the base members 24 and 25 and have their inner ends bent downwardly adjacent to the lower flange of the member 95. The bars are limited in their outward movement by stops 98, see Fig. 2, rigidlyconnected to the inner ends thereof, which are adapted to engage the plates 97. They are limited in their inward movement by stops 99 on the outer ends thereof, which are adapted to engage the plates 97.

It is desirable that means be provided for automatically returning the members 95 to their normal position on'the unit after the load has been discharged. Any suitable mechanism may be employed for this purpose. 1 In the form of construction selected to illustrate one embodiment of themvention, a weight 100 at each side of the unit, is employed for this purpose. Each weight is suspended by a cable 101 secured at its inner end as at 102 to theupper portion of the unit at one side thereof and having its other end secured as at 103 to the outer end of the member 95. The cable 101 extends around a pulley 104 carried by the weight and around a pulley 105 above said weight. A guide 106 is provided for preventing the unnecessary lateral movement of the weight when the unit is tilted.

In the operation of the device after the material has been operated on by the machine it is moved to the unloading position. by the carriage 18, after which the proper controls 7 6 are operated which will cause the units on which the material is mounted to be elevated and tilted to the position shown in Fig. 4. The weight of the material will cause the transfer members 95 to slide downwardly and outwardly into contact with. the supports 13 or until the stops 98 and 99 engage. p

The angle is such that the material will slide from the members 95 and in case there shcuid be any tendency for the material to stick to these members .the shock caused by the engagement of the stop members will be sufficient to cause the material to slide from those members on to the supports 13. If the work extends only across a limited number of the -units 23 the valves 78 leading to the other units may be closed so that only the units that are being used will be operated.

The sudden stopping of the transfer memhere when these stops engage will cause the material by its momentum to slide downwardy and outwardly onto the supports at the sides of the table. If there is material on-both halves of the table and it is desired to unload the same, the va ves 78 leading to the cylinders of both sets of units being open,

' it is only necessary to operate the control 76.

If, however, it'is desired to operate only one setof the material moving units, say the units 22, for transferring the material at that side of the table to the, supports 13', see Fig. 1, the valves 78 for the units 23 are closed, whereupon, when the control 76 is operated, the units 22 only will be operated.

While the device has been described in more or less detail, it is understood the disclosure is by way of example only and that many changes in the form and construction of the device may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention: P

1.v In a material transferring unit, base members, a material transferring element slidably mounted on' said base members, means for elevating said unit and for tilting the same to cause said element to slide by gravity along said base members.

2. In a material working machine, a material supporting table, means for moving material along said table, mechanism at each side of said table for vertically lifting said material from said table, means for tilting said mechanism in opposite directions for transferring said material laterally outwardly simultaneously from both sides of said table.

3. In combination, a metal working memher, a table having rollers associated therewith for conducting metallic members to and from said metal working member, supports at each side of said table and spaced therefrom to form passageways, material trans ferring members extending along said table, means for elevating and tipping said material transferring members, and means for automatically extending across said passageways when said transferring members are elevated for transferring said material across said passageways.

4; In combination, a metal working member, 21 table for conducting material to and from said member, a plurality of material transferring members for transferring material from said table to a point spaced laterally from said table, each unit comprising a frame, legs depending from said frame, guide rollers carried by said legs, guides for said rollers, means for limiting the upward movement of certain of said rollers, an oscillating cylinder, a piston for said cylinder connected to said frame for elevating the same and causing the same to tip, a material transferring member slidablv mounted on said frame and adapted to slide outwardly when said frame is tipped, and means for returning said last-named member when the material is discharged therefrom.

5. In a material moving device, a transfer unit, means for raising and tilting said unit, a pulley, a transfer member slidably mounted on said unit, a cable having one end secured to said transfer member and its other to said unit and having its intermediate portion looped about said pulley, and a weight secured to said pulley for returning said trans for member to supporting position on said unit when the material has been discharged therefrom after said unit has been elevated and tipped.

6. In a material moving device, a transfer unit comprising base members, means comprising an oscillat ng cylinder having a piston pivotally connected to said base members for raising said unit, means for halting the upward movement of one end of said un t while the other is continued to be raised, for tilting said unit for discharging material therefrom, means for preventing the descent of the first-named end of said unit during the discharge of material therefrom, and means for automatically releasing said lastnamed means during the return movement of said unit.

7. In a material moving device, a transfer unit comprising a base, a front and rear set of leg members depending from said base, rollers on said base, a transfer member mounted on said rollers for movement along said base, stop means for limiting the outward movement of said transfer member, means for connecting the members of each pair of legs together, guide rollers on said means, guides for said rollers, means for limiting the upward movement of the front end of said unit, latch means for holding the front of said unit in elevated position. and means engaging said front set of legs for automatically operating said latch when said unit is operated,

8. In a material moving device, a transfer unit comprising a base, legs depending from the front end of said base, means for elevating and tipping said unit, guides for positioning said unit, latch means, and means for normally holding said latch means out of the vertical path of said legs but operated by the tilting of said unit to position the same to prevent lowering of said unit while in tilted position.

9. In a material transferring unit, a base, material transferring means slidably mounted on said base, means for tilting said base for causing said first-named means to move along the same by gravity for discharging material therefrom, a pulley, a cable attached to said base and first-named means and trained about said pulley, and a weight attached to said pulley for returning said transferring means to its retracted position on said base.

10. A material transferring unit adapted to remove material from the table of a metal working machine comprising a base formed of two channel members turned back to back, bars connecting said members together, rollers on certain of said bars, a material transferring member formed of an .I-beam movably mounted 011 said rollers, guide members for said I-beam, stop elements for limiting the longitudinal movement of said transferring member in both directions on said base, means for elevating and tipping said unit for causing said I-beam to move along said base to bring said stops into contactfor discharging said material from said tranferring member, and means for returning said lastnamed member to normal position after the material has been discharged therefrom.

11. In material working mechanism, a transferring unit, comprising a base having depending legs at its outer end, means for raising and tipping said base, means for guiding said unit during its elevating movement, latch mechanism for holding the outer end of said unit in elevated position during the tipping operation, said mechanism comprising a pivoted latch member having a shoulder for engaging beneath the outer end of said unit, a bell crank lever having a fixed pivot, a link for connecting one end of said bell crank lever to said latch member, for operating the same, the other end of said bell crank lever engaging one of said legs for holding said latch in inoperative position While said unit is being elevated, and a spring for moving said latch member to operative position when said unit is tilted.

12. In a device of the class described,-a table, means for supporting material thereon, a transferring unit associated with the table adapted to raise the material vertically from the table, means for limiting the upward movement of one side only of said unit during its upward movement whereupon the unit is automatically tilted to deposit the material alongside the table, and means for operating said unit.

13. In a deviceof the class described, a table, means for supporting material thereon, a transferring unit associated with the table adapted to raise the material vertically from the table until a predetermined height is reached whereupon the unit is automatically tilted to deposit the material alongside the table, said unit including an extensible arm for increasing the range of deposit, and means for operating said unit.

14. In a device. of the class described, a material working machine,means for conveying material to and from said machine, and transferring means for moving said material laterally and depositing the same in a position parallel to the direction of its movement on theconveying means, said transferring means including an extensive arm for increasing the range of deposit.

15. In a device of the class described, a table, means for supporting material on the table, and a transferring unit associated therewith including means for elevating the material vertically to a predetermined height without tilting, and means for thereafter positively tilting said second named means for discharging the material laterally from the elevating means.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature. I

V GOMERT POWELL.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,884,211. October 25, 1932.

GOMERT POWELL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring Correction as follows: Page 5. line 43, claim 14, for "extensive", read "extensible"; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this Correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 13th day of December, A. D. 1932.

M. J. Moore (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

